247 farms have 18,770 heads of cattle

A cattle survey in December 2002 showed that the total cattle stock stood at 18,770 heads, registered in 247 farms, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Of these, 51 farms with a stock of 5,724 heads are situated in Gozo.

The cattle stock consists of 4,998 cattle less than one year old, 4,989 heads aged between one and two years, while 8,783 are over two years old; of these, 8,033 are dairy cows.

While 67.6 per cent of all farms are engaged in dairy activity, these hold a stock of 96.1 per cent of the total cattle stock. In the remaining 32.4 percentage of farms, 723 heads of cattle are registered.

The island of Gozo has 47 dairy farms with a total of 5,695 heads of cattle, of which 3,234 are dairy cows.